Footwear



g- 1960 c. o. SHECTER ETAL 2,948,971

FOOTWEAR Filed Aug. 5, 195a zzka.

61026: 0. Sod-c755 FOOTWEAR Filed Aug. '3, 1956, Ser. No. 601,964

9 Claims. (Cl. 36-25) The present invention relates to footwear, and more particularly to the retention of shoes on the feet of the wearer.

Certain styles and designs of shoes, especially those worn by women, rely primarily upon the forward portion of the shoe upper for retaining the shoe on the foot.

! The lack of an adequate counter shoe portion, or its complete omission, causes the heel portion of the shoe to drop away from the foot when the rear of the foot is elevated with respect to the floor or other supporting surface, causing inadvertent partial or complete removal of the shoe from the foot, and requiring the wearer to intermittently shift the shoe back to its full and appropriate position on the foot. Clearly, such occurrences are uncomfortable and annoying to the wearer.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide improved footwear, in which the heel portion of the shoe is readily retained in its proper position with respect to the heel of the wearer, despite the absence of an adequate or any counter portion of the shoe.

Another object of the invention is to provide footwear in which the heel portion of the shoe is held snugly against the lower surface of the heel of the foot when the heel of the shoe is elevated from the ground or floor.

A further object of the invention is to provide amechanism for preventing the heel portion of the shoe from ropping away from the foot, the mechanism being comparatively simple, hidden from view, and comfortable to the wearer.

This invention possesses many other advantages, and has other objects which may be made more clearly apparent from a consideration of several forms in which it may be embodied. Such forms are shown in the drawiiings accompanying and forming part of the present specii fication. These forms will now be described in detail, ?for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention; but it is to be understood that such detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the invention applied to the foot of a wearer;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary section taken along the line 22 on Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section through a portion of the apparatus applied to the lower heel surface of the foot;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the device shown in Fig. 3, with the backing sheet partly peeled away;

Fig. 5 is a section taken along the line 5-5 on Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section through a modified form of device applied to the lower surface of the heel of the foot;

Fig. 7 is a side elevational view of another form of the invention.

As disclosed in the drawings, a shoe 10 is mounted upon a persons foot 11, the shoe including the usual Patented Aug. 16, 1960 heel portion 12, outsole 13 and interconnecting shank 14. The shoe also includes an insole or sock lining 15, that may be made of any suitable material, and a forward upper portion or vamp 16 into which the forward portion of the foot extends, the heel 17 of the foot being disposed above the heel portion 12 of the shoe itself.

With the specific shoe illustrated in Fig. 1, there is very little, and in many cases no, structural portion of the shoe that will retain the heel 17 of the foot in appropriate position with respect to the heel portion 12 of the shoe. As an example, when the wearer walks over a floor or ground surface the heel portion of the shoe drops away from the rear 17 of the foot, the shoe tend: ing to slide forwardly and, in some instances, come completely off the foot. Usually, with full shoe structure, an adequate counter portion (not shown) is provided at the rear of the shoe that coacts with the heel of the foot to retain the shoe on the foot, but for styling and other purposes many shoes do not have an appropriate counter portion, or any counter portion at all.

By virtue of the present invention, the heel portion 12 of the shoe is held snugly against the heel 17 of the foot, preventing the heel portion of the shoe from dropping away from the foot, and also preventing the shoe from sliding forwardly of the foot. To accomplish this purpose, a permanent magnet 18 is appropriately secured within a companion socket 19 in the upper portion of the heel 12, the upper surface 20 of the magnet being disposed contiguous the lower surface of the insole 15. Thus, the magnet is located immediately under the heel 17 of the foot. I

The magnet 18 is capable of exertinga magnetic attraction upon a companion armature 21 disposed at the undersurface 22 of the heel 17 of the foot, this armature being secured in appropriate position adjacent or against the lower surface 22 of the foot heel. In the form of invention illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5, inclusive, the armature 21, which is in the form of a relatively thin, ferrous disk, is adhesively attached directly to the undersurface 22 of the foot. Thus, the armature disk 21 is disposed within a companion recess 23 in a base sheet 24 of woven material that is relatively thin, the base sheet having a pressure-sensitive adhesive coating 25 on its face through which the recess opens, for adhering the base sheet 24 and armature 21 to the undersurface 22 of the foot heel 17. Prior to application of the armature and base sheet combination to the undersurface of the heel, the adhesive coating 25 may be covered by a protective or backing sheet 26 adhered thereto; This protective or backing sheet 26 is readily peeled from the adhesive'coating 25, without substantially removing the latter from the base sheet, whenever the device is to be applied to the undersurface of the heel portion of the foot. The base sheet 24, containing the armature 21, is pressed against the undersurface 22 of the heel in a position that will be substantially in alignment with and disposed immediately above the magnet 18 in the shoe 10 when the foot 11 is inserted fully into the latter. When the persons weight is applied to the heel portion 17 of the foot the armature and base sheet are pressed against the insole or sock lining 15, which is preferably made of a pliant material so that the relatively small thickness of the base sheet 24 and armature 21 will not cause discomfiture to the wearer. The armature 21 itself is but a short distance from the magnet 18 and will be attracted thereto with a substantial force.

When the heel 17 of the foot is lifted, the heel portion 12 of the shoe will be elevated with it, maintaining a juxtaposed relationship between the heel 17 of the foot and the heel portion 12 of the shoe at all times. Not only is a separtion between the heel portion of the foot and the corresponding portion of the shoe prevented,

but the attractive force of the magnet 18 on the armature 21 will prevent the shoe from sliding forwardly of the foot. The end result is that the shoe is retained on the foot 11 to the same effect as if a full counter portion of the shoe were provided'above the heel portion 12.

Following application of the base sheet 24 and armature 21 to the underside 22 of the heel portion of the foot, the wearer may place socks or stockings (both not shown) thereover without adversely afiecting the operation of the magnet 18 in attracting the armature 21 and holding the rear portion 12 of the shoe upwardly against the heel portion 17 of the foot, since the usual thickness of stockings or socks is relatively small in extent and will not substantially increase the gap between the armature and the magnet when weight is applied to the heel portion of the foot.

In the form of invention disclosed in Fig. 6, the ferrous armature disk 21a may be carried within a pocket 30 on the underside of the heel portion 31 of a stocking 32. Thus, the pocket 30 may be secured to the main body of the stocking by suitable lines of stitching 33 on three sides, an opening 34 remaining through one side, such as the rearwardly facing end of the pocket, into which the thin armature disk 21a can be inserted and removed. The pocket 30 is located on the underside of the stocking 32 in such position as to be disposed directly above the magnet 18 when the foot of the wearer is inserted into the shoe, in order that downward movement of the heel portion 17 of the foot toward the magnet will cause the armature 21a in the pocket to be attracted by the magnet, and thereby hold the heel portion 12 of the shoe upwardly against the corresponding portion 17 of the foot.

In the form of invention illustrated in Fig. 7, the armature may be provided by weaving ferrous or other magnetic threads 21b in the heel portion 40 of the stocking 41 itself, such threads extending along the undersurface of the stocking. When the stocking clad foot is inserted in the shoe the metallic threads 21b will be disposed in alignment and immediately above the permanent magnet 18 secured within the upper heel portion of the shoe, there being an attraction between the armature threads 21b and the magnet 18 to hold the heel portion 12 of the shoe upwardly against the heel 17 of the foot.

It is, accordingly, apparent that footwear has been provided in which the heel portion of the shoe is retained in its appropriate upward position against the heel of the wearer, even in the absence of an adequate or any counter portion of the shoe. The heel portion of the shoe is held snugly against the heel of the foot, preventing the heel portion of the shoe from dropping away from the foot and preventing the shoe from sliding forwardly of the foot. The different forms of invention disclosed are simple, comfortable to the wearer and are not readily visible, except where existence of the armature is purposely made evident, as by weaving the metal- He threads 2112 shown in Fig. 7 into the stocking, which can be done with an appropriate and artistic design.

The inventors claim:

1. In footwear: a shoe having a heel portion; a magnet member; an armature member; one of said members being secured to the heel portion; the other of said members being adapted to be carried by the wearer of the shoe adjacent the underside of the heel of the foot in position for attraction by said one of said members.

2. In footwear: a shoe having a heel portion; a mag net secured to said heel portion; and an armature adapted to be carried 'by the wearer of the shoe adjacent the underside of the heel of the foot in position for attraction by said magnet.

3. In footwear: a shoe having a heel portion and a pliant insole above said heel portion; a magnet member; an armature member; one of said members being secured to the heel portion below and adjacent said insole; the other of said members being adapted to be carried by the wearer of the shoe adjacent the underside of the heel of the foot in a position to bear upon said insole and be attracted by said one of said members.

4. In footwear: a shoe having a heel portion and a pliant insole above said heel portion; a magnet secured to said heel portion directly below and adjacent said insole; and an armature adapted to be carried by the wearer of the shoe adjacent the underside of the heel of the foot in position for attraction by said magnet.

5. In footwear: a shoe having a heel portion; a magnet member; an armature member; one of said members being secured to the heel portion; adhesive means for securing the other of said members to the underside of the heel of the foot of the wearer of the shoe in position for attraction by said one of said members.

6. In footwear: a shoe having a heel portion; a magnet secured to said heel portion; an armature; and adhesive means for securing said armature to the underside of the heel of the foot of the wearer of the shoe in position for attraction by the magnet.

7. In footwear: a shoe having a heel portion; a magnet secured to said heel portion; a stocking adapted to fit the foot of the wearer above the shoe and having a pocket on its lower heel portion; and an armature in said pocket for attraction by said magnet.

8. In footwear for use with an armature on the underside of the heel of a persons foot: a shoe having a heel portion; and a magnet secured to the upper portion of said heel portion and adapted to attract the armature.

9. In footwear for use with an armature on the underside of the heel of a persons foot: a shoe having a heel portion and an insole above said heel portion; and a magnet secured to said heel portion below and closely 5 adjacent said insole and adapted to attract the armature References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,722,062 Phillips Nov. 1, 1955 

